The effects of polymer molecules on light diffusion
Labour intensivity of assembly and manufacture
The reason why aspheric lens manufacture remains in-house
Edit - I thought the article was worthy of a wider audience and posted a link to the article on the FredMiranda Alt Forum. The thread received a reply from Brandon Dube, that was comprehensive in its commentary on the article and manufacture of aspheric lenses and disappointingly the LEICA Barnack Berek Blog article contains a few inaccuracies. It is well worth reading Brandon's reply for the quality of information and insight given, the link is here.
Lensrentals Roger Cicala pretty much covered gear forums with this parody of the Hammer Forum and the 300+ readers comments cover just about all the remaining aspects. Roger Cicala then summed up perfectly the reaction of photography forums to a new product announcement with this graphic in a post on Roger's Law of New Product Introduction
Copyright Roger Cicala, Lensrentals, http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2013/01/rogers-law-of-new-product-introduction
It is fair to suggest that internet forums are the peanut galleries of the online world and some are more febrile than others. A new product release from Leica is akin to the proverbial red rag to a bull for photography forums, it seems to be an opportunity for some forum posters to vent their spleen and no doubt provide fruitful material for a group of psychologists to analyse.
Leica have announced the FF Mirrorless SL Type 601 and a trawl through the usual suspects gives some insight into Leica's capacity to stir the emotions in the peanut galleries
I'm a member of Fredmiranda.com and the one benefit of membership is you have an option to Hide posters, I exercise this option for posters who either, have strong opinions on photographic matters but demonstrate no evidence for actually taking photographs and/or display the unhealthy traits of religous fanboys. Which means threads such as the Leica SL reveal only a couple of posts on some pages and unsurprisingly it appears Sony A7 series owners are the most vocal.
My interest in the SL, is that I own legacy R lenses mounted via Leitax adapters on an approaching 8 yr old Canon 1Ds3. Canon discontinued the 1Ds series and every DSLR they've released since hasn't really compelled me to upgrade. Now the newly announced SL can mount R and M lenses via adapters, which also opens the way to some high quality M lenses. It will be interesting to see user reports on R and M lens performance on SL sensor. IF optical performance is uncompromised, I will certainly be very interested.
A potentially good forecast for dawn and after silencing the alarm a look out the window suggested I really should make an effort, there was a chance of mist in the Glens and clear skies to the east. Parking up there was a 'breeze' so before heading up, a drive along to check whether a layer of mist was shrouding Loach Marees pine clad isles. There was no mist or frost so Plan A scuppered. Plan B a hike up the Beinn Eighe mountain trail to the conservation cairn for sunrise would be tight on time and being honest my calf muscles were protesting at the prospect of 500m ascent after the previous day's ascent. Plan C was cobbled together consulting the map under the car interior light and Plan C unravelled by discovering in head torchlight the path petered out into a feral tract of tussocky grass and bog, a retreat was made back to the car. Which is why I eventually ended up by the River Grudie, reflecting on the fact that I could have had an extra 1.5 hrs of kip.
The afternoon/evening was a wander over Lewisian Gneiss geology with a backdrop of the Torridon hills, the wind was blowing a bit.
Lewisian Gneiss outcrop refolded folds. Compass for scale.
There was sone nice light too at sundown and images of the cnoc and lochan scenery that characterises the lewisian gneiss terrain.
The last full day before heading back home wasn't the best forecast with wind, rain bands and extensive cloud at low level. A walk along the foreshore, through the woods and over the Ard Ialltaig gneiss exposures, seemed best.
Tree lungwort with apothecia (lobaria pulmonaria)
The geology exposures were challenging to see past the weathering, lichen and bryophyte communities. Some of the lichens I had an idea, others not a scooby. The high rainfall, clean air and diverse environments make the area a place of interest for bryophytologists and lichenologists.
Lichens - Blood spot (Ophioparma ventosa) and Cudbear (Ochrolechia tartarea)
The trip was a good one, plenty of memorable wildlife sightings, the weather on Beinn Eighe and some good light.
I have a simple philosophy on hill walking and the number one rule is - I ain't going up in crap weather. The primary appeal of visiting a summit are the elevated views of scenery, the novelty of walking in a cloud and/or on all fours to prevent being blown over, has long worn off. Happily I haven't succumbed to ticking off hill lists nor do I suffer from summit fever, so I'm prepared to bide my time until the weather cooperates. The long awaited weather forecast for a hill excursion arrived and despite the attractions of Beinn Allign, Beinn Eighe was chosen as it would offer outstanding views not just of the scenery, but also of the geology. The summits were forecast to clear of cloud by the afternoon, so it was a relaxing start at 13.00 hrs from Glen Torridon, with an eye on sunset photography from the ridge.
The peak of Spidean Coire nan Clach and view north over the Moine Thrust Belt to the Letterewe Forest
The walk up is initially on a well constructed stalking path with plenty of zig zags to ease the ascent gradient and then briefly levels off before ascending into Coire an Laoigh. Where I was delighted to chance upon an emerald waterfall of mosses.
Egress from Coire an Laoigh to the ridge is either via the horror of scree, angled rock slabs or the munro baggers trench and bypass paths that scar the grassy slope of the corrie head wall. If I returned to the ridge again, I would probably take an alternative approach from Slugach via Coire nan Clach.
Stuc Coire an Laiogh and the Coulin Forest
Whilst taking in the views from the col between Stuc Coire an Laoigh and the ridge, a Golden Eagle quartered the slopes below us, the first time either of us had seen an eagle from above. Up onto the ridge the views were indeed excellent and visibility was improving.
Beinn Eighe - Western summits
Beinn Eighe - Eastern summits
A wander over to Spidean Coire nan Clach and Nic's debut Munro. Whilst taking in the views a fell runner appeared and a wee blether ensued, he'd made the ascent in 39 mins! whilst the descent might take 19 mins! A physique of sinew and muscle, with a job as a head stalker on Gairloch Estate, fell running since a boy, a born and bred hill man. He also enlightened us on the deer mortality rate over the winter and provided an insight into the hills and winter conditions. Interesting that Liathach, the massif adjacent to Beinn Eighe, was the one mainland hill he really didn't like, even more so, since a fell running friend had died on it a fortnight before. Watching his descent down the ridge can only be described as a fluid motion over rugged terrain.
Coire Ruadh-staca and a suit of glacial landforms on the corrie floor
The view north into Coire Ruadh-staca reveals a suite of hummocky and lateral landforms, moraines indicating the downwasting and retreat of the corrie glacier at the end of the Loch Lomond stadial. By turning around 180 degrees and looking south across Glen Torridon into Coire a' Cheud-chnoic (Valley of a hundred hills) a suite of hummocky moraines gives the valley its Gaelic name.
Glen Torridon and the hummocky moraines of Coire a' Cheud-chnoic
What can also be appreciated from this vantage point are oblique views over the Moine Thrust Belt and an insight into the architecture from an elevated viewpoint. A link to a video to modelling the formation of thrusts :
With an elevated oblique view across the Moine Thrust Belt, the pale quartzites and bands of dark or vegetated Torridon sandstone hint at the nature of the thrust belt, which in the image below is the northern part of the Achnashellach culmination, an imbricated thrust stack.
A view over Glen Torridon to the Achnashellach culmination of the Moine Thurst Belt
It is fair to say we loitered on the ridge for a while taking in the views, the haze seemed to drift in and out, which provided a memorable view of Liathach bathed in crepuscular rays
I had hoped to stay up on the ridge for sunset but a large bank of cloud out west didn't hold much promise and Nic didn't fancy the descent in head torch light, so the last images were made before the descent back down into Coire an Laoigh.
We arrived back at the car in the gloaming and I was relieved that I hadn't noticed any late light falling on Beinn Eighe since our departure. A good day.
The forecast wasn't the best for the hills with strong winds and low cloud, so the plan was to visit the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve and then a trip up the coast to Gruinard Bay. A look in at the Beinn Eighe visitor centre revealed it had received a very impressive refurbishment since my last visit. A chat with a staff member revealed that the winter of 14/15 had seen 3 months of near continuous rain and wind resulting in high deer mortality rates from exposure, which explained the absence of deer.
Coille na Glas Leitre woodland
Back to the Coille na Glas Leitre Trails car park and the wind as forecast, had strengthened and the cloud base lowering to the summit of Slioch, a walk up the mountain trail seemed unwise and the woodland trail opted for instead. It may be my imagination but these old growth pinewoods have a special atmosphere and are a delight to wander through, an aesthetically appealing feature of Pinewoods are the dead trees which are called the 'bones of the forest'.
Possibly a caterpillar of the Vapourer moth (Orgyia antiqua)
Less visually subtle were a troop of Fly Agarics :
Coille na Glas Leitre woodland is fenced off from the attention of deer, so there are no substantial animal tracks to wander off onto and the field layer was a dense mix of 'mature' heather, bilberry and bracken, covering hummocky ground, not the best for wandering around off piste without a machete, a pity as there are some areas that looked very photogenic from a distance.
Autumnal colour was still a few weeks away with only a few leaves on Rowan, Birch and Bracken fronds starting to indicate the change of season.
With the woodland trail completed it was off to Gruinard Bay and that was a photographic non event, aside from some geology exposures, with the weather really deteriorating it was back to the holiday cottage. I then managed to gain a few brownie points by suggesting a trip down to Shieldaig bay for some wildlife spotting as dusk approached and despite the heavy rain, we were rewarded with an extended viewing of an otter foraging amongst the seaweed, only the second time we've seen an otter in Scotland, woohoo!
Glen Torridon
The following day and the weather wasn't the best, the satellite rainfall radar showed an extensive tract of heavy rain slowly crossing the country, with the cloud breaking later in the day for sunshine and showers. The plan was a trip to Shieldaig bay for wildlife spotting and then down to Glen Torridon for a low level walk and/or geology excursion. The resident otter of Shieldaig proved elusive, the seals less so and the midge/mosquito population on some form. The drive down Glen Torridon didn't reveal a great deal as visibility was reduced by poor weather and a faster windscreen wiper speed would have been useful. Sanctuary was sought in the Torridon cafe, somewhere to appraise the options. As the refreshments arrived, so out to the west patches of blue sky appeared. The forecast was right and with better weather on the way, the plan was a walk over some interesting geology near Diabaig and if the cloud lifted a walk to a minor hill summit for the views.
Scotch mist
I do try my best to keep Nic interested in the geology by pointing out she was walking on continental crust nearly 3,000 million years old and the differences between high strain and low strain rock, the problem is it doesn't bear any resemblance whatsoever to an otter or any other marine mammal. With the cloud base stubbornly refusing to lift, wind starting to increase and interesting terrain to walk back over to the car in head torches, it seemed sensible to retreat and return another day. I made the offer that she could drop me off at another location on the way back, she could go and spot for wildlife and then pick me up at dusk. I have rarely seen her move so fast over rugged terrain.
The change of plan proved an inspired move, although I would have liked an extra 20-30 mins scouting, as it was a case of heading up onto the nearest knoll of gneiss in anticipation of the sun dropping into a cloud break out to the west.
Gneiss light
This area has and is undergoing an extensive planting of Scots Pine and Birch to regenerate the native pinewood and enclosure with deer fences, it will be interesting to view this area in 25 years time.
A few days before leaving for a weeks holiday in Gairloch in the NW of Scotland and the long range weather forecast made for grim reading - low cloud, wind and rain, sigh. It actually turned out not too bad.
A good day in Torridon and a view from Beinn Eighe over the imbricate thrust stack.
This area of Scotland has some outstanding geology with good exposures of archaean continental crust :
BGS bedrock geology - Lewisian complex
and excellent exposures of Caledonian orogeny thrust belt courtesy of dark and light coloured rocks :
BGS bedrock geology - Moine thrustbelt
and glacial landforms to name but a few.
Now for landscape photographers on holiday with their spouse, there are some compromises to be made between desired vs mutually acceptable activities. The first proper day of the holiday was predicted to have the best day of weather, an enquiry to the charter boats revealed a trip to see the dolphins and whales so Nic went with that and very good it was too, she saw a pod of Short Beaked Dolphins and then a group of Minke Whales, free from my chaffeuring duties I had a wander over the eastern limb of the Tollie antiform, wondered why I hadn't bought any midge repellent and hoping the wind wouldn't drop. The reason for my wander was twofold a scouting trip for photography locations and to walk the geology, before returning to pick Nic up from the boat trip.
Foliated archaean gneiss top left, intruded by a 'scourie' dyke (dark rock with white lichens) middle andbottom left and both intruded by pegmatite (red/pink rock) right. Compass for scale.
The compromises did not end there that day, with not enough time for an excursion up the hills and Nic likes beaches so putting my landscape principles to one side and we made an excursion to a nearby beach.
High energy and low energy beach morphology
Sand ripples and dune blowout
The light was good and I'll confess to feeling somewhat wistful as the last light played over the distant hill tops. The glimmer of hope was that the forecast wasn't quite as grim for midweek. So, acquire some midge repellent and fingers crossed for similar weather later on in the week.
Personal declaration - I have never met Charles Peregrine Waite (his full name as registered with Companies House) the founder and head judge of the Landscape Photographer of the Year (LPotY) competition or communicated with him. I have entered the sum total of two photography competitions, both of which were the LPotY in 2008 and 2009. In 2008, I was very fortunate and surprised to have an image printed in the awards book, however, I was aware that many deserving landscape photographers images failed to make the awards book and it left a decidedly underwhelming feeling of achievement.
Some recent research into the UK's online landscape photography community revealed some interesting insights, one of which is the appetite and preoccupation with entering photography competitions be they camera club, regional, national or international. The LPotY competition by virtue of official support from 3 national photography magazines, official sponsorship from a national broadsheet and a £10k first prize, receives the most coverage in the UK media and comment on the internet.
However from its inaugural awards in 2007 there have been concerns raised in the wider photography community that winning and award book images have likely contravened the competition rules and with warnings ignored it was an accident waiting to happen. The LPotY 2012 saw the consequences of inept judging erupt onto the wider public stage in some fashion and it is worth a revisit of the events as they unfolded.
On the Talk Photography forum this thread was started by David Byrne, the very photographer who was later disqualified as the overall winner.
Amazon shipped the LPotY awards book prior to the official announcement and some early recipients of the award book raised concerns with images in the book. Social media ensured word quickly spread that the LPotY was in full omnishambles mode and the wider photography community pulled up a chair, got the popcorn in and watched as the hubris unravelled.
With Byrne's images demonstrably shown to have been plagiarised, composites and digitally manipulated, he eventually claimed not to have read the competition entrance rules. Of course.
Byrne was officially disqualified from the LPotY competition categories that didn't allow composites/digital manipulation - a total of 3 images.
The awards book had already been printed and shipped to customers before the official announcement with the disqualified images, was there an official recall and reprint? Er no, that would have meant 'taking a haircut' on profit.
The revised overall LPotY award winning image was of a row of empty tenement buildings due for demolition, which if nothing else was an appropriate visual metaphor for the LPotY competition.
It is fair to state that these events generated no little discussion across the internet and the discussion contained few positives for the LPotY competition, award book images, wider issues with photography competitions and poor standards of judging. There was some comment on the insipid and uninspiring nature of images that had graced past and present the awards books, with a consensus of opinion of a blueprint for a successful LPotY awards book image; an easily accessible view and not too visually complex or challenging to photograph. Similar to the competitions founder and head judges own photographic work then. There was some insight into Waite's personal motives for starting LPotY, Waite's landscape photography credentials and limited nature of his photography. Most commentators were unanimous in their agreement of Waite's business acumen, media savvy nous and appetite for self publicity. The judges and judging came in for particular criticism, as the manipulation wasn't subtle and the disqualified image a derivative of an existing photograph.
One positive outcome from the omnishambles of LPotY 2012 was that the subsequent 2013 and 2014 competition results have restored a modicum of credibility by apparently enforcing the competition entrance rules for images.
Some will say the nadir of LPotY was the 2012 disqualification. However, I would contest that and point out the potential flawed nature of some LPotY awards. Consider the following :
In 2012 the Independent Newspapers photograph blog writer, Alex Hare, wrote a total of 17 articles during his tenure of which 2 were devoted to the coverage of LPotY competition and a further article was an interview with the very same competition founder and head judge. The inaugural Independent photography blog article in May 2012 which by most definitions reads as a big plug for the LPotY competition. The Independent photography blog November 2012 was a remarkably sympathetic article on the disqualification of the overall winner. Good news for the Alex Hare though, with his 'Highly Commended' image in the competition. Indeed.
In 2010 the overall LPotY winner lived within walking distance of the competition founder and head judge. Wow! A small world and what a surprise it must have been. Indeed. The 2010 winner subsequently left his job and is currently employed as an instructor leading photography workshops in the LPotY founder and head judge's other commercial business which provides photography workshops. It clearly demonstrates the life changing potential of becoming the Landscape Photographer of the Year. The word protege comes to mind.
In 2009 the overall LPotY winner was a French based landscape photographer, with a suitably European name and an image with a questionable degree of digital manipulation. Late 2009 was when the British economy was in the grip of a serious economic recession and Government funded department budgets were under review and facing funding cuts. It must have been comforting to visibly demonstrate the foreign visitors attracted to Britain by the chance to enter LPotY. VisitBritain was and is an official sponsor of the competition.
Be in no doubt there are other coincidences.
I stopped entering the LPotY after 2009, it was then clear to me that the competition was being run for commercial gain and agenda(s), personally I couldn't support a competition that attempts to manipulate the publics perception of what landscape photography is. I am not even going to mention the Network Rail and Urban categories that really devalue the awards book or the digital manipulation encouraged in the anything goes Your View category. Nope, it is the seascapes or the family pet in the image, that fail by some margin to satisfy the criteria for a landscape. Which is why the winning image for the 2008 LPotY was a real FFS and face palm moment, compelling evidence that the competition has f@$k all to do with landscape photography and is all about raking in the filthy lucre by attracting new punters.
With this years LPotY awards announcement due soon, I'm torrn between predicting either a female photographer winning this years competition, possibly with an image made by a phone/film/digital medium format camera or by a visiting photographer to these shores from a nation with a largely untapped market, like China ..
* NB there appears to be 'link rot', which is odd, as the participants played such a prominent role in the controversy.
